A busy few days.

First things first..... Thank you to everyone who sent good wishes for Coralie. She has had her surgery and is now back at home. She has post operative discomfort (her words!) but the dreadful pain has gone. She will require some further surgery which she will see the consultant about soon. I am just relieved that she is back at home with her boys.

Well as per normal it has been a busy few days. Half term holidays are always busy as Simon tries to cram in as much as possible. Progress on the garage extension is more or less non existent due to the weather. Once again we have pouring rain, accompanied today by very high winds. Not good weather for working outside.

I will do a separate blog with more photos.

We did have a nice few days over the Jubilee weekend. My Dad came and stayed for 2 nights and I think he did enjoy himself. He is very patriotic as many of his generation are so he really enjoyed the TV coverage of events. He also really enjoyed the concert too. I thought the concert was brilliant although there were a few “stars” that I could have done without. Grace Jones for one. What was the hula hoop all about? Didn't seem appropriate. Mind you, I had to admire her ability to keep it going without once dropping it and singing at the same time.

I am quite worried about my Dad. His ear does not seem to be getting better. He has a constant ache and occasional sharp pains. I would have thought that it should be improving by now. My sister will be taking him back to the hospital next Thursday so hopefully they can reassure us that it is on the mend.

On the Tuesday we took him to Verity and Steve’s house in Cambridge for our family Jubilee party. He seemed to really enjoy that too although possibly the little ones were a bit too excited for him. We all had a lovely time with lots of lovely food. Home made burgers by Sam which were barbecued by Steve along with chicken and sausages and lots of lovely cakes and desserts made by my girls and my niece Carly. Saskia had also made quiches. The weather of course let us down and it was very cold with rain showers. We did stay outside for most of the time....huddled under blankets under the gazebo. Good old British summer.

I shall post the photos in an album shortly.

Yesterday Wendy came to see our new house. We had a lovely day and evening going through boxes full of old family photos. They of course bring up lots of memories. As it is a while since I have done any family history stuff I was having trouble remembering names and dates so now I want to get all that out and work on it some more.

I scanned some photos from Wendy’s collection that I had never seen before. There were some really old ones of our Granddad at work. Another one was of my Mum's 21^st birthday. I want to do a scrap book of my Mums life to give to my Dad so that will be one that I can use.

It was a shame that Wendy couldn't stay longer as it is so nice to have a catch up but like all of us she is very busy and has to fit things in when she can. Maybe we can do it again in the summer holidays. Perhaps we could even sit out in the garden. Thank you Wendy for the flowers and the red stuff. Actually we didn't really drink much red stuff, too busy talking!

In between shifting barrow loads of clay Simon has finally got the doors on our wardrobe. Don't get excited, it isn't finished yet. He still has the top to finish and there is a facing piece of wood to go down the side to cover the gap. I think he will get on with it over the next few weeks in between the garage. At least now with doors on it looks a bit better and the clothes are protected from dust. I can begin to think about decorating now. Having said that I am not sure what money there will be for decorating as I think the garage is going to end up costing way more than we have.

OK, that’s me done for now. Simon is going to go to his barn for a while this afternoon as he really can't do anything outside. I think I may have a nice hot bath with a book. Wendy left me 3 new books to read. I am actually feeling pretty grotty today. My throat was a bit sore last night which I put down to too much talking. Then I woke up this morning with a really sore throat and a sniffly nose so it is obviously a cold. I am taking mega doses of Vitamin C, zinc and echinacea in the hope of killing it off.